Introducing "Dear [Blank] Me"
Want to be a part of a little New Year's writing group project? Sending out a call for letters-to-self, as short as 1 sentence long, no longer than 2 pages. Read on.
Hey everyone,
One of you (whaddup Jacob!) had the brilliant idea of featuring the writing of my readers here in the Courtyard. Specifically, “letters to self.” I love the idea and I’m running with it.
I want to start a series called Dear [Blank] Me. Each letter in the series will be an amalgamation of letters written by readers, addressed to themselves, on certain topics.
For example, one of my readers just reached out to me privately about their experience of moral injury after fighting in Vietnam. So I might send out a call for letters-to-self on healing from war, or perhaps just healing in general. I might call it Dear [Wounded] Me or Dear [Wounded-and-trying-to-heal] Me.
Or maybe one of you reaches out to request a Dear [Blank] Me about a parent dying, because your mom just passed away. We’d call it: Dear [My-mom-just-passed-away] Me.
Or betrayal: Dear [I-feel-betrayed] Me.
Or forgiveness: Dear [I’m-ready-to-forgive] Me.
You get the idea.
Wanna try it out? Here’s the first prompt:
Dear [2024-is-upon] Me
What are you taking with you from 2023? What are you glad to leave behind? What did you learn? What was the cost of that learning? What’s finished? What’s beginning?
So. Dear [2024-is-upon] Me. Go wherever you want with it. Remember, this is a letter to yourself. Maybe you want to celebrate yourself for something. Encourage yourself. Lament. Process something a little more. Articulate your revelations. As someone who loves revelations but can get lost in the clouds, I’d encourage you to ground your insights in the experiences that gave you these revelations. The stories. Make it personal, if you dare.
I will select a passage from each letter and weave them together, then post it here in January. I won’t share these letters with anyone else, except maybe Tana (if you don’t want her to read them, please specify that in your submission).
If you’re in, here are the deets:
Letter can be as short as a single sentence, no longer than 2 pages of typed text.
Submit by December 31, 2023.
Send to andrewforsthoefel@gmail.com.
Let me know if you want to remain anonymous, or if you are okay with having your first name publicly footnoted.
Questions? Feedback on the structure here? Please let me know in the comments section of this post so we can clarify this thing together.
I look forward to creating with you.
With gratitude,
Andrew